Should we all have a car?

Typically I would give a long and rambling intro to the weekly student review. Today, I shall do no such thing. APES students Monica Toomer and Melissa Amador have done a splendid job of talking about how it went down. One note before we begin, Following the posts you can find one of my favorite TED talks about population growth. So, without further delay,

Mel Begins:

This week in Mr. Kite’s AP Environmental Science class we learned about the growth rate of a population and how technology goes hand-in-hand with it. Also about crude birth and death rates, total fertility rates and infant mortality rates. A population will most likely increase if the technology is better sustainable for it – for example, if there is better sanitation of the area, and more medicine for illnesses, a population will grow. There is a theory that if all the countries lived as Americans do, we would need about 7 or 8 Earths to sustain the way of living we have. The United States only accounts for 6% of the population worldwide, and we use about 30% of the world’s resources. The US is taking more than they need.

The rule of 70 is important with population growth. The rule of 70 discovers how long it will take for a population to double its original amount. There are also pyramids used with population. A population pyramid is wider at the bottom, not to be confused with an age structure pyramid. A column pyramid has little to no growth and looks similar to a column. This pyramid would most likely demonstrate the population of a developed country. An inverted pyramid shows that the population will decrease. Another way to categorize the populations of countries is through demographic transition. Phase I is preindustrial and has a steady population, and the crude death rate is equal to the crude birth rate. Phase II is transitional and the crude death rate declines while the crude birth rate remains high. There is also an improved standard of living but the regal traditions remain. Phase III is industrial and the population stabilizes, the education and economy improves and the crude birth rate declines. Phase IV is postindustrial and the crude death rate is higher than the crude birth rate, and the economics and education are advanced.

On Friday we went into detail on how family planning can lower a population because women become more educated and are treated as equals to men. To finish the week we had our “China’s One Child Policy” debate. At some parts it got heated and some people lost their temper, but in the end we as a class did a nice job on getting our opinions and facts out in a well-toned manner.

Monica Concludes:

This week in Mr. Kites AP Earth Environmental class we discussed the growth rate of a population, total fertility rate, and infant mortality rates. First, we know that population expands with the increase in medicine and better sanitation. This along with infant mortality rate, which is the number of infants who die under the age of one, can determine how developed a country is. Population growth has created a few questions, such as; will earth be able to sustain life as the world’s population increases? It is said that if all countries were as developed as the U.S, we would need many more earths to support life. It’s believed that as long as technology keeps up with population growth, then the earth should be fine. Also, we learned about the rule of 70, which is how quickly something will double when it's growing exponentially. We use this to determine how fast population will double. Since the population is growing by 2% a year, the population is estimated to double in 35 years. We also learned about the different population pyramids. A pyramid that is widest at the bottom is usually a underdeveloped country, a column pyramid describes a country with little or no growth and lastly an inverted pyramid is a country whose population is decreasing. We also learned how to categorize countries through demographic transition. The 1st phase is preindustrial I which there is a steady population, phase 2 is transitional which CDR declines and CBR is still high, phase 3 is industrial and which has a stable population and CBR declines and lastly phase 4 is postindustrial and CDR is higher than CBR. On Friday, we learned that a population lowers when women interact as equals; begin working, and when people are engaged in learning and work. We also had a debate to discuss whether China’s one child policy was good or bad. To conclude, we learned that the more affluent a country is, the lower its growth rate and vice versa.